Aitatxo
by Ilargi iluna
Summary: Aitatxo means daddy. This is the story of Itachi and his family, the old and the new. SPOILERS FOR MANGA UP UNTIL CHAPTER 402. Oneshot.


_**This is a piece written for Aashni's contest on Deviantart. Naruto and it's characters do not belong to me. Aitatxo means Daddy in Basque, if anyone wondered. Enjoy!**_

_**WARNING!!! SPOILERS FOR THE MANGA UP TO CHAPTER 402!!!**_

**Aitatxo**

Itachi shifts restlessly on his bed, cautious not to disturb the warm body nestled comfortably next to him. In a rare display of emotion, he runs his hand nervously down the length of his black hair. He knew this day was coming, had known from the beginning, but it is... hard. He still has some time. As he lays awake on his shared bed, he reminisces.

Of when he was still a child, the pride of his clan, the heir... the tool.

_The child without a name grew up to be the hand  
To watch you, to shield you or kill on demand  
The choice he'd made he could not comprehend  
His blood a grim secret they had to command_

He had been a prodigy, the youngest shinobi of the Leaf to make it to ANBU captain, and that had been his curse. They made him train relentlessly, never let him develop as a normal child, instead forcing him to grow up much too quickly. And he resented them for it, but was very careful to keep it hidden. Because he had to, because they needed to believe that he was loyal to the clan above everything else. Because if he didn't, they would take the title – the burden – away from him and target his brother. His needy, young, _innocent _brother. Sasuke. He could do it, he _had_ to do it, because Sasuke was the only one uncorrupted, because he was his brother and the only thing he held dear.

But life was never that merciful, and everything, all of his carefully laid plans, shattered that fateful day he was summoned to a secret clan council. His world crumbled the day his clan decided to rise against the Village Hidden in the Leaves, and he reported it back to the Hokage. His last vestiges of hope were wiped the day he received the unranked mission that would last for the duration of his life. _'Wipe out the clan, then leave.'_

_The curse of his powers tormented his life  
Obeying the crown was a sinister price  
His soul was tortured by love and by pain  
He surely would flee but the oath made him stay_

He slashed through his father's stomach, he cut his mother's throat. He spared no mercy to child or elder. But he couldn't, would _never _be able to harm his little brother. So he left him alive, and begged for his life to the Hokage, who finally conceded. He gave his brother a drive to live and hoped, _prayed_, that he'd grow up strong, strong enough to kill him and allow him his long denied peace. When he left, not even the thick walls of the village could stop the heart wrenching cries of his brother.

"Sasuke... forgive me."

_Please forgive me for the sorrow, for leaving you in fear  
For the dreams we had to silence, that's all they'll ever be  
Still I'll be the hand that serves you  
Though you'll not see that it is me_

Years passed, and Sasuke grew stronger. Itachi watched from afar as he was placed in a team under the copy-ninja, Hatake Kakashi. He observed as his brother struggled to remain impassive in the face of friendship, in the face of love. It made him bitter and sad and more than a little angry to see his brother walk willingly into the arms of the Snake Sannin in search of the strength it would take to bring him down. When they told him that his brother had killed his master, he knew it wouldn't be long.

But something happened that he had not planned. When the pink haired kunoichi that had been his brother's teammate jumped out of nowhere to engage him in a fight, he thought it would be of little consequence. But he had underestimated her hatred for him. In retrospect, he supposed she had every reason to detest him. After all, he was the mass murderer that had wiped out her teammate's clan in a single night and left him a broken, revenge blinded man. He was the ultimate reason that Sasuke had abandoned them. Abandoned her.

But at that time he had been unprepared to face that, and had reacted on instinct to her chakra laden punches, injuring her far worse than he had intended. Leaving her at the brink of death. He instantly regretted it. He didn't want to rob his brother of yet another person, and so he did the only possible thing. He couldn't take her back to the Akatsuki hideout, and he couldn't possibly carry her all the way to Konoha, she was far too weak to survive the journey.

Thus, he took her to a nearby, off the way hut that had been conveniently abandoned some time ago. He had little knowledge of medical jutsu, but it was enough to keep her stable until she regained consciousness.

"Live" he told her as he got ready to leave. "Love him."

He barely paused when she asked him why, but stopped altogether when she fell back into unconsciousness. Perhaps she wouldn't able to survive on her own yet? So he went back into nursing her. It turned out he had managed to damage her chakra coils to a point where she'd be unable to use them for months. So he stayed. And in those long, lonely nights spent in an abandoned hut she managed to pull out of him what red hot irons wouldn't have. She learned the truth. And for some unfathomable reason, she believed it. It is ironic the way life has of twisting around all of your carefully laid plans. For what he had intended for his brother, turned out to belong to him. And when Sakura recovered enough to heal herself, they left together for an even more remote location. It would only buy them time, but time was all they ever desired.

And now, the time has come to face the ghosts of his past. He can feel the chakra signature approaching, it is some three hours away. He needs to leave, now. Looking at the peaceful woman sleeping next to him, he feels, not for the first time, a pang of regret for what he has done, for what he is about to do. He carefully places a soft, lingering kiss on the corner of her lips, then leaves the bed for the room next to theirs. Even in the dark, he easily makes his way to the smaller bed nestled against the wall. It is with a heavy heart that he caresses the soft raven hair of the sleeping child, before taking off his necklace and placing it on the bedside table.

Steeling himself, he makes his way out of the room and the house, into the moonlit forest that surrounds his home. _Home..._ With a last, lingering, wistful glance at the silent house, he leaves.

It isn't very long before he finds what he was looking for.

"Sasuke..."

When Sakura wakes up the next morning to an empty bed, she feels fear tightening in her chest. Only when she sees Itachi's necklace in their son's bedroom are her fears confirmed. She does not wail, she does not scream, but a silent, lonely tear makes it's way down her cheek as she holds her child in the tightest of embraces.

* * *

Some years later, a young man stands next to his old house, in front of an unmarked, white stone. His eyes are of the darkest blue, his long, raven hair is pulled back in a low ponytail. He wears no hitai-ate. He leaves a small offering of flowers in front of the stone, kneeling and bowing down next to it.

_I used to ask Mom over and over again where Daddy was. Tears falling from her eyes, she told me: 'When you were three he left us forever. He left our side, and he could never come again.'_

_One day in July the Sun went dark, Mom was a widow, and I was orphaned, it was such a grievous day. In our family we've missed the light of a father, I've lived all of my life with the pain of not getting to know you. _

_The child you left behind now is cheering the people. From sadness I have created happiness into Mom's heart. When I sing I believe you are looking at me, every applause I receive is for you, Dad._

And that is, in his opinion, the best way in which he can honour the memory of his tragic, peace-loving father.

_**So, there you have it. It's the saddest thing I've written this far, but I thought it was fitting. Please let me know what you think. **_

_**The lyrics are from Hand of sorrow, by Within Temptation, and the part in which Itachi's son talks to his father is mostly a translation of the song Aitatxo, by Gorka Knorr.**_


End file.
